External structural work complete on UCL Academy in Camden

The new UCL Academy in Swiss Cottage is on target for an official opening in September of this year.

The completion of the external structure was celebrated this week.

The UCL Academy will be a new mixed school, sponsored by UCL, that will take pupils from 11-18 years old. As a new school, the Academy will open with 180 Year 7 students (first years) and 125 students in Year 12 (sixth form). It will grow year-on-year until it reaches its full capacity in September 2015.

Malcolm Grant (UCL President and Provost) explained: "It was a celebration not just of the vision for the Academy - UCL's wish to make a major contribution to secondary education in Camden and raising both aspiration and achievement of students - but also of our close working partnership with Camden Council and of the progress made to date by planners, architects, the construction team and sub-contractors.

"This is a unique project: UCL is still the only university in the country to adopt the responsibility of sole sponsor of an Academy. We seek through this to enhance significantly educational potential and opportunity in Camden."

The Academy's facilities will include:

• large teaching spaces designed to provide the best possible learning environment for students
• state-of-the-art science laboratories, and a science demonstration theatre for interactive lectures, experiments and talks by visiting academics from UCL
• an engineering science suite, which will include workshops and technology and science labs (for electronics and for engineering physics) designed to give students the experience of 'being engineers'
• suites of rooms for art, music and drama, including highly-equipped performance spaces
• 'house' spaces, providing comfortable, welcoming places for students to eat together, and to use for informal study.

Image: a 'topping out' ceremony to celebrate completion of the building's main structure by contractors BAM. Pictured are (left to right) Mike Cooke, Camden Council's Chief Executive; Professor Malcolm Grant, UCL Provost and President; Councillor Nasim Ali OBE, Leader of Camden Council, and Richard Bailey, Managing Director of BAM Construct UK

---

Related links:

The UCL Academy
Watch a video of the building plans